Messaging Archives - Page 21 of 27 - Claxon Communication

Messaging Cheat Sheet inspired by the Cygnus Donor Survey

June 26, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Demographics, fundraising, donors, messaging — Young and old may all give blood. But not for the same reasons!

Penelope Burke and the team at Cygnus Applied Research recently released the Cygnus Donor Survey: Where Philanthropy is Headed in 2012. For fundraisers in the United States and Canada, this is a gold-mine. So much useful, practical, actionable info–it’s a must-read.

Some of the most interesting nuggets had to do with how to engage donors in different age brackets. In his most recent newsletter, Tom Ahern also addressed this issue. He reminded us that “To write persuasive copy, you need to see the person you’re writing to…in your head.” Tough to conjure up a mental image if you don’t factor in someone’s age.

The survey also revealed that two out of five donors could have given more last year but simply weren’t persuaded to do so.

Don’t leave money on table just because your messaging doesn’t factor in age and motivation.

Although far from comprehensive, here’s an extremely high-level “cheat sheet” for how to craft messaging to connect with three different (and admittedly very broad) age groups:

Under 35: Focus on your COMMUNITY and how they can help grow it. Make sure it’s easy to read on a mobile phone.

35-65: Focus on IMPACT. Real-life stories about what their dollars are doing with good stats to back it up. (Remember not to go right for the head, however. Heart then head. Heart then head. Repeat.)

65 on up: Focus on NEED. They’ve given enough to know the drill and they want to cut to the chase–what does your organization need. Make it clear and they are happy to oblige.

These aren’t mutually exclusive, mind you. Younger donors care about impact and older donors want to hear stories. You’ll be in good shape, however, if you focus on their main motivator first and foremost.

Mission-Motivated Messaging Checklist

June 19, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Got your why? Check!

This morning, I got to spend time at the PNAIS Advancement Conference. I did a session on Marketing Your Mission in 3 Easy Steps. No matter how many times I present on this topic, I’m always 1) humbled by the AMAZING work being done to make the world a better place and 2) reminded how little time we spend on the Why of it all.

Directly after my presentation, I got to hear Susan Howlett speak. Susan is responsible for transforming thousands of organizations through her work with boards. Her book Boards on Fire is setting the world of fundraising on fire!

In her session, Susan encouraged us to heed Simon Sinek’s advice to start with the why–and to keep going back to the why. Not just start with why, but to lead with why from start to finish. Sprinkle in some what and how, sure, but elevate the why.

For some reason, the mission-motivated of the world shy away from sharing their why. Why be shy about your why?

In an effort to stop this “Shy About Why” epidemic, I created a Mission-Motivated Messaging Checklist. The next time you are going to communicate about your organization, run down the following list:

Why? Why does your organization exist? Why should someone care about what you’re doing?
Why you? Of all the organizations out there, why should someone engage with you? What makes you special? Compelling?
Why now? What makes now the time for someone to take action?
What now? What, specifically, do you want the person to do? Make it clear and make it easy. (Note: If you’re writing a Thank You note, for instance, the “action” might be to feel really, really good about the impact they’ve had. This isn’t a plug to always make an ask. It’s a plug for always being clear on what you hope the person on the receiving will feel and, when appropriate, do.)

If you address all of these, you’ll be in good shape.

Are you shy about your why? If so, why?

Is your mission guiding or motivating?

June 12, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis

When something is “mission-driven”, it means it is guided by mission: mission-driven strategy, mission-driven communications, mission-driven staff.

When something is “mission-motivated”, it means the mission offers a motive for action: mission-motivated messaging, mission-motivated marketing, mission-motivated fundraising.

Be clear on when your mission is guiding and when it is motivating. There’s a big difference.

4 questions, 3 words, 1 message

June 9, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

At the NDOA Spring Conference, I gave a presentation on Using Messaging to Engage your Community.

I challenged the group to pick three words that define and differentiate their organization. And then weave those into their messaging across all platforms–elevator pitch, social media, brochures, case for support. You name it. Those three words should come through. Concise, consistent, compelling. That’s what this approach gets you. That’s why it’s effective.

Here are the four questions to ask to get you to the three words:

Why do you exist?
What do you do?
Why you?
Why now?

What are your answers? What are your three words?

Using Messaging to Engage Community

View more presentations from Erica Mills.

The 4 Personalities of Tom Ahern

June 5, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Tom Ahern, fundraising, nonprofits, non profit, — Tom Ahern, from his site, looking young and happy in France!

Do you have a specific type of reader in mind when you write your fundraising appeal, newsletter, brochure, blog, Facebook post…? You should. This is where personas come in.

Creating a full-blown persona can feel arduous. Thank goodness for Tom Ahern! He gives us four handy personalities to consider when embarking on mission-motivated writing.

Amiable: They crave a good story and engaging images.
Expressive: They want something new. Program, website, trends, reports. New=good.
Skeptical: They’re into facts and supporting evidence. FAQs, testimonials and proof points will make them happy.
Bottom-liner: They’re looking for a very specific, actionable call to action (CTA). Make it easy for them to know what to do.

Each of us has a bit of each of these personalities in us and so do the people you’re trying to engage. Write accordingly. You might mix a bit of amiable with a dose of skeptical for your fall newsletter and then for your year-end appeal, get expressive with some bottom-line.

The point: For best results, write with a specific personality in mind.

Who’s minding your message?

June 1, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Photo credit: CetasKinetic

Newsflash: It’s not the resident English major or wordsmith who should be minding your message. It’s the leaders.

Minding your message is much about culture than it is words. This is where leaders come in.

To successfully use words to advance your mission, leaders have to create an organizational culture that values and prioritizes finding the words that will make you stand out from the crowd.

Easier said than done, you might say, and your to-do list is plenty long as it is. That’s fair. Luckily, organizations that effectively use words to advance their mission have some common characteristics.

For starters, consider these five:

They gain internal alignment before going for external amplification: How can you effectively engage people externally if your house isn’t in order? When you’re internally in sync on your why and your what, the words fall into place.
They are crystal clear on who matters most to their mission: The ‘general public’ is never held up as a potential audience in the hope that if you cast a wide net, you’ll catch at least a few fish. No! Instead, these organizations know exactly what types of people they need to connect with in order to be successful. In this way, they liberate everyone from distraction.
They are willing to fail: You’re not going to hit it out of the park every time. You have to be willing to fail if you’re serious about succeeding.
They embrace competition: There are a lot of organizations on a mission to make the world a better place. (This is a good thing!) By definition, this means there’s competition. Organizations that embrace this speak both to what defines them AND what differentiates them. If you stop at what defines you, you’re only half-way to finding the right words. You’ll be lumped in with every other organization that shares your cause–education, environment, arts, homelessness, hunger. What makes you different from other organizations tackling this issue?
They tow the line: Once you’ve defined and differentiated your organization, you can find your words and create your messaging. But let’s be clear: everyone is expected to say every word exactly the same. BOR-ing. Rather, pick 3-4 key words that you expect staff and board to use consistently. Give examples and let people personalize. And then make everyone stick to it–including yourself. Over time, those are the words that external stakeholders–donors, volunteers, supporters–will use, as well. This is how your organization will establish the mind share it needs to be successful.

Culture change is hard work, no doubt. But how cool would it be to lead an organization that knows exactly how to use words, language and messaging to get your good work noticed? Pretty darn cool.

Event donors: more than a one night stand

May 22, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Event 360 recently released a new white paper: 4 steps to converting event donors to organizational donors. I will leave the in-depth commentary on whether these are the “right” 4 steps to event pros like Shanon Doolittle but will say that the event donor segmentation and sample engagement plan for major donors alone are worth giving over your email address for (which you have to do to download it).

Here’s the thing: Event donors often get stuck in the one night stand camp because we try to go too far, too fast.

Unlike most other forms of fundraising where there is a longer lead up to the ask, event participants go from ‘I don’t know you at all’ to ‘going all the way’ (i.e. making a donation) very quickly.

Even after the event, event attendees barely know you! You’ve had a fling. Even if it was a great fling, it was still just a fling. That’s very different than a courtship.

From a messaging perspective, this means you have to properly introduce them to your organization after the event. In the event follow-up, don’t make the mistake of leaping to the middle of your story. Reinforce what they learned–and felt–at the event. Reiterate the key points from the event. Reinforce why they should like you. Cement their basic knowledge of your cause, your mission, what makes you unique and how they can engage.

This may sound incredibly, painfully obvious. But I’m always surprised how clunky post-event communications tend to be. Take it slow and your event donors can turn into much more than a one night stand.

“I work for a non profit.”

May 15, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Dan Pallotta's ad campaign to get people "over" overhead.

The topic of renaming the non profit sector came up a lot at the Washington State Nonprofit Conference last Friday. That’s because Dan Pallotta, author of Uncharitable and shaker-upper-of-all-things-traditionally-nonprofit, gave the keynote. He’s the guy who pointed out that, in Latin, non profit means “non progress” and that that’s a pretty lame name for a group of people hell bent on making progress on a better world.

While we continue the hunt for a better name for the non profit sector–one that might actually stick so people would actually change behavior and stop saying it–I’ve got a suggestion.

People who work in the for profit space don’t say, “I work for an S-Corp/C-Corp/LLC/etc.” They say, “I work for a bank.” or “I’m in IT project management.” or “I build websites.”

Why do those in the ‘for purpose’ space, as Pencils for Purpose Founder Adam Braun would say, start with, “I work for a nonprofit. We [insert blurb about what you do]”? Why do we feel compelled to preface our answer by clarifying our tax status?

Taking out the tax status reference would be a giant step toward being known for what we do and why we do it, rather than how the IRS refers to us.

That can only be good, right?

Non-word: very handy attention-grabbers

May 9, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

A non-word is a word that’s not recognized as “legitimate” or not approved given the circumstances. Non-words can be handy. They include gems like blub, proact, and maximizer.

The beauty of the English language is that it’s fluid. Unlike French or some other languages where new words have to be approved, the English language made its name by morphing. This is a boon for those of you who want to do good and get noticed.

There’s something to be said for a well-placed non-word. It jumps out. It grabs your attention. It makes your reader (or listener) ask, “What does that mean?”

In short, it can be a great way to engage.

Should you use words that people know? Yes. Most of the time. And then every so often, a non-word might be a really good move.

Maximizer: a very important non-word

May 7, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Maximizer isn't in the dictionary. It turns out that “maximizer” isn’t an official, Old English Dictionary-approved word. This is weird to me.

The people I know in the iSector--or social good space or for cause or whatever else you call it–are full-on, all-out maximizers. If we’re not trying to maximize our impact–our collective shot at making the world a better place–then what are we doing?

Based on a quick Internet search, it appears that a tanning product is the world’s foremost “impact maximizer”. This is more than a little discouraging. You and I are in the presence of people who maximize impact for a living and yet it’s a tanning product that gets all the glory.

I’m pretty sure the world will end up a better place if “maximizer” becomes synonymous with “someone who maximizes impact to make the world a better place” instead of “something that does a good job of tanning my skin.” So I don’t care that “maximizer” isn’t technically a word. I’m still going to use it. To seal the deal, I added it to the Claxon Lexicon. (Take that, OED!)